


Steady On

by missjo



Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-17
Updated: 2014-01-17
Packaged: 2018-01-09 01:42:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1139956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missjo/pseuds/missjo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Brief first-kiss ficlet!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Steady On

Thomas was not quite sure when his world tilted on its axis but he figures it must’ve been between the time Jimmy entered the linen closet under the pretense of passing a message on from Carson and the time Jimmy clicked the door closed behind him leaving them much too close together for Thomas’s sanity. In between he had been saying something to him with that teasing smirk on his handsome face but Thomas couldn’t remember what it was now. Not with Jimmy so close to him. He could smell his aftershave and the sent beneath it that was unmistakably Jimmy. It was incredibly intoxicating.

"Mr. Barrow? Are you listening?" Jimmy asked with a delicately arched brow.

"Hm?" he replied most elegantly and turned to face him front on.

Jimmy dipped his head, the amused smirk still present on his face, and then looked back up at Thomas through his golden hair. “I was saying you owed me somethin’ and you agreed. Then I said ‘let’s have a kiss then’ and you got all quiet like.”

Oh. So that had been the moment.

"Wot?"

Jimmy took a definitive step into Thomas’s space. “I suggest you don’t make me repeat it again, Mr. Barrow, or I may change me mind.”

Thomas looked at him slack jawed for a moment and tried to figure out if this was a trick or a stunt of some kind. There was something inquiring, curious, and almost hopeful in Jimmy’s eyes, though, and that was when he realized it was neither a trick nor a stunt. He lifted a shaking hand up to caress the footman’s cheek but he pulled away.

"Hold on, Mr. Barrow. With the history between us I think it’s best I do the touching first, don’t you?" he suggested with a coy grin.

He nodded and lowered his hand back down to his side and waited with baited breath for Jimmy to move, to do something. The lad’s expression remained coy enough but Thomas watched as a plethora of emotions showed through his eyes. First there was fear, of course, then want, which was intriguing, then they finally settled on a kind of intense determination as he slowly lifted his hand and pressed warm fingers to the cut of Thomas’s cheek.

He left them there for a few breaths and then slowly, ever so slowly, guided Thomas’s head down and pressed their lips together. It was the most chaste of kisses, just a soft pressing of mouth to mouth really, but when Jimmy pulled away Thomas followed behind. His mouth was quivering and his breath was shaky as he finally let it go.

"Over just that, Mr. Barrow? Steady on," Jimmy said, the smug grin back on his lips.

Thomas wanted to hit him or kiss him; something to knock that smug look off his face. Instead he just stood there unable to find the words.

Something unidentifiable crossed Jimmy’s features during that silence. Then he nodded stiffly, to himself or Thomas it was hard to tell, and turned towards the door.

"That will be all, Mr. Barrow."

Finally Thomas came back to himself. He reached out and grasped Jimmy’s wrist and spun him back around. The scared and vulnerable expression he found on Jimmy’s face then gave him pause.

"Oh, Jimmy," he breathed out, searching his face.

Jimmy was trying to put up that smug mask but it wasn’t working. He gave up finally and just shook his head, his gaze firmly fixed on the pile of towels behind Thomas’s head.

He finally pressed his palm to Jimmy’s cheek. “It’s alright, Jimmy, I’ve got you,” he told him softly and watched as the footman’s wounded gaze returned to his face.

"Mr. Barrow—" he pleaded before his voice gave out.

"Shh…" Thomas leaned in and pressed their mouths together once more. He kept it gentle and chaste though everything in his body was screaming for him to press Jimmy into the door and snog him senseless.

Jimmy’s legs must’ve given out because suddenly he was pressed firmly against him, his hands clinging to Thomas’s broad shoulders desperately, and Thomas tightened his hold to secure him. They remained like that for what seemed like a lifetime.

When finally they parted Thomas saw something flicker in the corner of Jimmy’s eye and then it was gone. His cheeks were flushed and his mouth was red from being kissed — he was the most beautiful thing Thomas had ever seen.

"You’re going to be the death of me, Jimmy Kent," he murmured, unable to keep his eyes from wandering over that handsome face.

Jimmy’s smug grin came back then. He tilted his chin up proudly. “Y’know, I just might—”

Thomas opted to kiss him then to shut him up and wipe that smug grin off. It worked extraordinarily well and Thomas’s heart sang out as Jimmy pressed himself back against the door and took Thomas with him.

They quite forgot about Carson’s message and had a lecturing later that evening but when they glanced at each other and shared a conspiratorial grin Thomas knew it was well worth the cost.


End file.
